Connor Zilisch has revealed a touching interaction with his best friend and 2025 Xfinity Series champion Jesse Love.

Zilisch was the clear favorite heading into the last race of the season at Phoenix, but didn't have the pace to hold off the No. 2 car of Love in the championship race, eventually finishing third in the race and second in the championship.

The Xfinity finale has been held up as a prime example of the current playoff format denying 'deserving' drivers the championship, with Zilisch winning ten races over the course of the season, while Love went 31 races without visiting victory lane after his season-opening win at Daytona – until the crucial race at Phoenix.

It seems that Love was more than aware of those criticisms, with Zilisch revealed at the season-end awards event this week that his friend and rival checked in with him immediately after the race.

Zilisch: No reason to be mad at Love

Zilisch said: “I went up to him in Victory Lane. At the end of the day, he did nothing wrong. He asked me, ‘Are you mad at me?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t have any reason to be mad at you, dude. You’re not the one who created this situation. You just executed when you needed to'.

“I have no reason to be upset about that. Yeah, I celebrated with him, and we had fun. It’s part of it. I had no reason to be upset with him and hold it against him.”

Zilisch's rookie season in the Xfinity Series may well be his only chance for a championship at that level, having been bumped up to the Cup Series for 2026 with Trackhouse Racing.

“I just want to go out and learn," he insisted. "I don’t really have expectations for where I’m going to finish or what’s going to happen. I just want to be a better driver in (Homestead) in November than I was in Daytona in February, and if I can do that, I’d be pretty happy.

“The Cup Series is tough. It’s a whole different ballgame. Everybody’s really talented. All the teams are really good. It’s just a different level. It’s going to take a little bit of time to figure it out and get used to it, but I’m just really excited for the opportunity.

“It’s really cool for me to be able to do this at my age and get the opportunity to go race in the highest level of our sport. I’m just going to go do my best and try and learn as much as possible and grow with my team. Hopefully, at the end of the year, I feel like I’m in a pretty comfortable spot.”